Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Borycki, Piotr, Trędowicz, Magdalena, Janusz, Szymon, Tabor, Jacek, Spurek, Przemysław, Lewicki, Arkadiusz, Struski, Łukasz
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12897
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915292572024832
author Borycki, Piotr
Trędowicz, Magdalena
Janusz, Szymon
Tabor, Jacek
Spurek, Przemysław
Lewicki, Arkadiusz
Struski, Łukasz
author_facet Borycki, Piotr
Trędowicz, Magdalena
Janusz, Szymon
Tabor, Jacek
Spurek, Przemysław
Lewicki, Arkadiusz
Struski, Łukasz
contents Explainable AI (XAI) methods generally fall into two categories. Post-hoc approaches generate explanations for pre-trained models and are compatible with various neural network architectures. These methods often use feature importance visualizations, such as saliency maps, to indicate which input regions influenced the model's prediction. Unfortunately, they typically offer a coarse understanding of the model's decision-making process. In contrast, ante-hoc (inherently explainable) methods rely on specially designed model architectures trained from scratch. A notable subclass of these methods provides explanations through prototypes, representative patches extracted from the training data. However, prototype-based approaches have limitations: they require dedicated architectures, involve specialized training procedures, and perform well only on specific datasets. In this work, we propose EPIC (Explanation of Pretrained Image Classification), a novel approach that bridges the gap between these two paradigms. Like post-hoc methods, EPIC operates on pre-trained models without architectural modifications. Simultaneously, it delivers intuitive, prototype-based explanations inspired by ante-hoc techniques. To the best of our knowledge, EPIC is the first post-hoc method capable of fully replicating the core explanatory power of inherently interpretable models. We evaluate EPIC on benchmark datasets commonly used in prototype-based explanations, such as CUB-200-2011 and Stanford Cars, alongside large-scale datasets like ImageNet, typically employed by post-hoc methods. EPIC uses prototypes to explain model decisions, providing a flexible and easy-to-understand tool for creating clear, high-quality explanations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_12897
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle EPIC: Explanation of Pretrained Image Classification Networks via Prototype
Borycki, Piotr
Trędowicz, Magdalena
Janusz, Szymon
Tabor, Jacek
Spurek, Przemysław
Lewicki, Arkadiusz
Struski, Łukasz
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Explainable AI (XAI) methods generally fall into two categories. Post-hoc approaches generate explanations for pre-trained models and are compatible with various neural network architectures. These methods often use feature importance visualizations, such as saliency maps, to indicate which input regions influenced the model's prediction. Unfortunately, they typically offer a coarse understanding of the model's decision-making process. In contrast, ante-hoc (inherently explainable) methods rely on specially designed model architectures trained from scratch. A notable subclass of these methods provides explanations through prototypes, representative patches extracted from the training data. However, prototype-based approaches have limitations: they require dedicated architectures, involve specialized training procedures, and perform well only on specific datasets. In this work, we propose EPIC (Explanation of Pretrained Image Classification), a novel approach that bridges the gap between these two paradigms. Like post-hoc methods, EPIC operates on pre-trained models without architectural modifications. Simultaneously, it delivers intuitive, prototype-based explanations inspired by ante-hoc techniques. To the best of our knowledge, EPIC is the first post-hoc method capable of fully replicating the core explanatory power of inherently interpretable models. We evaluate EPIC on benchmark datasets commonly used in prototype-based explanations, such as CUB-200-2011 and Stanford Cars, alongside large-scale datasets like ImageNet, typically employed by post-hoc methods. EPIC uses prototypes to explain model decisions, providing a flexible and easy-to-understand tool for creating clear, high-quality explanations.
title EPIC: Explanation of Pretrained Image Classification Networks via Prototype
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12897